My Top 25 Moments From The 2014 MLB Season

The 2014 MLB season once again once again brought enjoyment and entertainment to everyone. Here are my top 25 moments from the 2014 season.
#25. Madison Bumgarner's Grand Slam vs. the Colorado Rockies on April 11.
#24. Marcell Ozuna caught a fly ball in left field and then threw a laser ball to home plate for a game ending double play to help the Miami Marlins defeat the New York Mets 3-2 on June 20.
#23. The Milwaukee Brewers score three runs on a wild pitch vs. the Colorado Rockies on June 21. #22. Jose Abreu hits a walk off grand slam to help the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-6 on April 25.
#21. Nick Swisher hits a walk off grand slam for the Cleveland Indians vs. the Los Angeles Angels on June 19.
#20. Miguel Cabrera homers for his 2,000th hit.
#19. Josh Beckett throws a no hitter vs. the Philadelphia Phillies on May 25.
#18. Clayton Kershaw's no hitter vs. the Colorado Rockies on June 18.
#17. Tim Lincecum throws his second career no hitter vs. the San Diego Padres on June 25.
#16. Derek Jeter passes Paul Molitor for 9th on the alltime hits list on April 6.
#15. Albert Pujols hits career homerun no. 500 vs. the Washington Nationals on April 22.
#14. Yoenis Cespedes throws out a Los Angeles Angels baserunner from 300 feet away.
#13. Oscar Taveras hits a homerun in his first big league at bat vs. the San Fransisco Giants on June 30.
#12. Giancarlos Stanton gets hit in the head by a ball vs. the Milwaukee Brewers.
#11. NLDS Game 2 18th inning thriller between the Giants and Nationals
#10. Brandon Crawford Grand slam in the NL Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh.
#9. St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras dies in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.
#8.  Derek Jeter delivers a walk off hit vs. the Baltimore Orioles in his final career home game.
#7. The Kansas City Royals walk off vs. the Oakland A's for the organization's first postseason win in 25 years.
#6. The St. Louis Cardinals come back from being down 6-1 to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-9 in game 1 of the NLDS.
#5. Matt Adams go ahead homer vs. the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS.
#4. Kolton Wong's walk off homer vs. the Giants in Game 2 of the NLCS.
#3. The Kansas City Royals advance to the World Series for the first time in 25 years.
#2. The San Fransisco Giants win their third World Series Championship in five years.
#1. Travis Ishikawa hits walk off homerun in NLCS Game 5 to send San Francisco to the World Series.            -Jared Pate

Remembering Oscar Taveras

When St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras was tragically killed along with his girlfriend in a car accident on October 26, 2014, it shook the baseball world. I remember when the Cardinals first signed Taveras back in 2009 as a seventeen year old teenager who could hit a baseball a long way. I remember him charging his way through the Cardinals minor league system with his numerous homeruns and his great ability to drive in runs. I remember analysts and experts saying his swing was more polished and better at the early stages of his career than Albert Pujols, who in my mind was the Cardinals best slugger since Stan the Man Musial himself. I remember Taveras homering off of San Francisco's Yosmiro Petit in only his second at bat on May 31, 2014. Taveras did struggle in his first promotion to the Majors, ultimately having to be sent back down to the minors in late June. But an injury to first baseman Matt Adams brought Taveras back to the Majors in mid July. The Cardinals opened up a spot in the starting lineup by trading outfielder Allen Craig to the Boston Red Sox. Taveras continued to be inconsistent throughout the second half of the season, ultimately leading the Cardinals starting Randal Grichuk in RF in the playoffs. But Taveras would have his last moment of glory by homering in Game 2 of the NLCS against the San Francisco Giants to give the Cardinals the lead. I was shocked and stunned by Taveras' passing. None of us baseball fans will truly ever get over Oscar's death, but we will just have to learn to move on and keep watching the game we all love. Oscar would want it that way.     -Jared Pate

Did the Cubs make the right move in signing Lester?

On December 15 when the Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester to a 6 year 155 million dollar deal it certainly improved their playoff chances. The Cubs also made minor moves with trades such as acquiring Miguel Montero and Tommy La Stella. They also signed new manager Joe Maddon who turned around Tampa Bay in a short period of time. Chicago had improved their playoff chances tremendously epically with the signing of Lester. The Cubs called Lester the best pitcher they have had in the past ten years. But after doing some small research did the Cubs actually do the right thing in signing Lester?

Last year they traded Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to Oakland. At the time they were probably the Cubs two best starters they had but overall the trade made sense given the Cubs position. Since the Cubs resigned Jason Hammel they didn't lose anything in trading him. But in trading Samardzija they lost one of the best pitchers in the league. In losing Samardzija, the Cubs then obviously signed Lester but was it the right move?  Since 2011 the starters each have similar numbers.

Jon Lester
3.61 ERA
3.56 FIP
1.257 WHIP
2.89 K/BB

Jeff Samardzija
3.61 ERA
3.52 FIP
1.220 WHIP
3.01 K/BB

As you can see these stats are practically identical. Samardzija even has better numbers in three of the four categories. Now I'm not saying that the trade with Oakland last summer was useless because the Cubs did receive three top prospects from Oakland. What I'm pointing out is that instead of spending big money on Jon Lester the Cubs could have bought a couple decent starters as well as other position players. In the Cubs point of view they do have a lot of top prospects now that should produce in the majors very soon. In my opinion the Cubs haven't changed all that much because even with the addition of Lester they still don't have a top offense. Lester could turn out exactly like Samardzija did, a pitcher with a great ERA but no wins to prove himself. In the next couple years, it will be very interesting to see how this Chicago team will turn out. If they don't produce as they are projected to, there could be big problems going forward for the franchise. Even after all the moves they still haven't improved greatly and in their division wins are very though to get. The Cubs are a team to watch over the next few years. Will this new Cub team compete or will they be a total bust? -Christopher Suddeth